turning data into useful answers. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. good afternoon. it's monday may the 7th. it's getting hot in here. >> i don't care how many ways you try to explain it. preparations aren't people. people are people. >> i speck that you're going to see us all come together. >> with all due respect to the president, he is not competent to deal with the economy. >> i tell you one thing, man, this race is tight and it may go down to the wire. >> more than ever before, barack needs your help. >> you see in our party a great deal of enthusiasm about make sure we get america back on track. >> bigger profits haven't led to better jobs. >> mitt romney is competent in spades.

>> no, he can't beat obama. >> we are on to the big show. yes, the general election with the president officially launching his reelection bid this week in virginia and ohio. and just moments ago, mitt romney wrapped up his own town hall in the buckeye state. whereas it often happens, he ran into a bit of trouble when things went off script. from a voter who appeared to have gotten himself properly educated on mr. romney's taxes. >> you took over $1.5 million in foreign tax credits in ten years. appreciate your comment. >> i will look at it. >> he'll look at it. just pretend that never happened now. on to a more innocent questioner. how about the 7-year-old first grader in the audience?

>> are you going to stop wasting money for my future? >> here's what i'm going to do. put everything the government does. put it on a list of program. and i'll say as i look at these programs, is it so critical it is worth borrowing money from china to pay for it? if it doesn't pass that test, i'll get rid of it. >> i'm not sure the 7-year-old followed what her school breakfast has to do with china. if romney tried to jab the president on the economy, it was president obama hitting right back at one of mitt's most marvelous lines and painting this race as the populist versus the plutocrat this saturday in battleground virginia. >> the true measure of our prosperity is more than just a running tally of every balance sheet and quarterly profit report. i don't care how many ways you try to explain it. corporations aren't people.

people are people. >> heated words from the president but make no mistake, this is going to be a fierce fight for the white house as two new polls show the race tightening in those crucial swing states. in the usa today gallup poll interesting president up two points with romney leading by one point in politico's swing state survey. both within the margin of error for a true toss-up as the general election begins. the poll don't tell the story. perhaps the ads will. both candidates out with new ads pivoting around, you guessed it, the economy. but take note of which ad doesn't feature its own candidate. >> instead of losing job, we're creating them. over 4.2 million so far. we're not there yet. it is still too hard for too many but we're coming back because america's greatness come from a strong middle class. because you don't quit. and neither does he.

>> i'm just not seeing a ton of sunshine in here. >> transportation of warehousing is where we lost some jobs. >> that is a terrible number. >> notice who else is silent? absent in that ad? yes, the candidate himself. governor mitt romney. we'll not be suffering in silence. et let's bring in our column. clarence page, john harwood, our political writer for the new york time, and here with me in new york, msnbc contributor joe-ann receive receive who is the managing editor of the agreeo.com. we're in the first week of the general election campaign. but romney wants to talk solely about the president. i mean, it's nothing else but the president and the economy. what about romney? what about selling something about himself? >> right. for mitt romney, he wants us to be solely a referendum on barack obama's performance on the economy. he wants to crowd out everything

else. foreign policy. >> don't ask don't tell. don't talk about anything but just the economy. that's really what he staked his entire campaign on. the problem with that and the challenge for him is that it depends on the economy being bad. his message is sort of a negative message. things are awful. you have to get rid of this guy because it's horrible. it's bad. if people don't feel that way in november then he hasn't left himself any positive message for people to say i'll still switch to that guy. >> that's why he approaches it in this way. we've seen the great likability gap between romney and the president. president obama leads romney by a solid 27 points in the usa today poll. do you think this is finally sinking in with romney? that's why he is basically an send from his own ad? >> i think right now, he is playing his cards close to the vest. the economy is not hot and it's not frigid cold. it is right in between. so the best he can do is to say, well, he could be doing a lot better if i were president.

without going into details on how he would make it better. but she is right, this is his principal issue. ohio is doing better. unemployment is down and this is the case in most of the swing states right now. so romney is somewhat treading water on his own favorite issue. >> but nevertheless, john, the economy is a worrying issue for the president. is it not? with very tight number on jobs and the economy. the president gets some leverage on taxes but really pulls away on standing for the middle class in the polling. that's why we hear him, i guess, pushing against the polluteocrat, mitt romney. >> the swung state polls that you mentioned show mitt romney has a very real chance of winning this election and the fact that he at this moment is going after obama and his record on the economy is not surprising for the reason that joe-ann

mentioned. i think we are going to get to a point in the campaign where we get more biographical information about romney in an attempt to close the likability act. he started talking about the olympics which is a unifying issue in his stump speeches. so i don't think we should disdown the opportunity that's there for mitt romney in a recovery as tepid as this one to make some headway. >> i want to play another bit from the romney town hall in a suggestion that romney chose not to responsible to. take a listen to this. >> i want to know, i want -- i do agree, he should be tried for treason. >> at the time romney said nothing. later, after the event, he apparently was asked and emhe didn't agree. but if he didn't agree, why did not he stand up like john mccain and confront that woman and say this man could not possibly be charged with treason. >> here in lies the other problem for mitt romney. he is so unsure of who he is

allowed to be that the base will let him get away with. that i don't think he feels comfortable doing what maybe in his gut he would have wanted to do. who knows what's in his gut because we don't know much about romney and what he thinks. he is on such shaky ground with his own party that he hesitates at the moment he could show leadership because he doesn't know how the base will react. they don't love him so far. if he would have stood up to that person, he would have opened up a whole new front against him with the tea party base. >> we've had repeated examples like this through the republican primaries. are we going to have this continuing? where people say the most heinous things about the president, lies, untruths and romney can't confront them. he is incapable of correcting them? >> well, escapable. will he do it? john mccain had a reputation and

still does for speaking his mind. the more he spoke his might be, the more the members of the base decided they didn't agree with him. mitt romney doesn't want to take that chance. he is very reluctant to be really candid about things he knows in his rational mind are correct like correcting that woman there talking about treason. as long as he feels that insecurity, we can expect to hear him go down that wishy washy middle. >> i agree with clarence that john mccain did do some straight talk. remember, john mccain also shifted starkly to the right during the 2008 primaries and i think for the reason that joy-ann mentioned, romney will ease into this. i believe when we get to the general election, he will start rebuking those people as he gets more confident. as he has more success in unifying the party. we've already seen the tack from the party shift recently saying even if you like barack obama, he is in over his head. that tells you that he is going

to move, when we get to the general election toward a more respectful tone, knowing that is what independents want to hear. >> as michele bachmann would say, with respect to you, i haven't heard him once correct anything like this and i have no confidence that he will do anything to correct people if they say on stumps, the president is a muslim, he was not born in this country. he should be tried with treason. i can't imagine that he would suddenly pluck up personal courage from nowhere and start saying the truth about this man. >> well, we've got six months to find out. i think that mitt romney is in the process of evolving as a candidate. i do speck you will see. that we'll see. and he is riding a tiger in terms of elements of the republican party base. that's why the gop primary nominating process was so difficult. but we've now gotten an extended period of time with him having locked up the nomination for him to focus on those swimming

states, on the independent suburban women who will decide the election. and his campaign is very well attuned to what those people want to hear. >> isn't it also the case that because romney has problems with the base, it is sometimes in his interests to say nothing to correct people. that could be helpful to him at the ballot box. >> i'm sort of more in the camp of saying he will probably restrain himself from doing the logical and rational thing. for this reason. if you look back to 2008, the intensity was not behind mccain mg. it was behind sarah palin who said all sorts of things. this is a turnout election. both have their sides baked. in they both need massive turnout which mean you need passion. the people who are the most passionate about turning barack obama out of office believe that and feel that. and i don't think romney wants to push them away. if he were to have a sister soldier moment he would get the blow back on twitter and social media from the hard right and i think he fears that more than he

fears the middle who already have concerns about the economy. >> indeed. i think you're right. thank you so much. next, what lessons can america take from the latest french revolution? stay with us. >> bon jour. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. my high school science teacher made me what i am today. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars

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when i was volunteering for meal on wheels i didn't know what to expect. when a senior opens the door, they're so grateful and so thankful. overall i had such a great experience and it was such an easy way to give back to the

community. >> that was a heart warming public service announcement highlighting the importance of meals on wheels. a nonprofit service that began in the 1950s and provides food to cover a million senior citizens every day. with congress back in session today, republicans are eager to get straight to work on spending cuts targeting, you guessed it, meals on wheels. it is an attempt to protect the pentagon from spending cuts that are due to come into force next january. good afternoon. >> how are you, martin? >> i'm delighted to have you with us. meals on wheels is part of the block grant provision that includes funding for transportation of the elderly and disabled, daycare, and as i say, meals on wheel. can you please explain to me why republicans seem so determined to focus on the weakest and most vulnerable members of society when it comes to budget cuts?

>> well, i can tell you this is part of a continuing pattern of making sure that we protect not only defense but tax breaks for corporations and for the wealthiest in our country. in order to avoid the sequester, republicans are proposing ending this $1.7 billion social services block grant which by the way was started under president gerald ford. a republican. and republicans claim that it is the duplication of services. but of course, they also propose to end $33 billion in food stamps which of course, 43 million americans rely on. they propose ending another say, $30 billion on medicaid which many of our seniors who want to live the dignified, have a dignified end of life experience in nursing homes. depend on. and so that's an excellent

question. >> you see -- we've got over 8 million seniors. that's roughly one in seven. facing the threat of hunger in 2010 according to the most reliable statistics. so republicans would prefer that they lose their meals on wheels and forego the only human contact that many of these elderly folk receive rather than stopping subsidies to massively successful oil companies. have i got that right? >> well, let me just say to you, market, they have poll tested and talk to the public and they have experts and so they say that these social services programs that we're providing are provided that this social safety net has become a hammock. imagine an elderly person, 80 years oerlgd sitting at home waiting on a meal. being considered some lazy bump is lying around in a hammock or some elderly woman in a nursing home that is relying on

medicaid. i think that americans really need to take a second look at these folk that we have put in office with their very, very machiavellian view of quote/unquote ending our deficit problem. you don't do it by returning our elderly into hunger and poverty. >> i want you to take a look at this video. this is your colleague, republican congresswoman joe barton of texas delivering meals on wheels with a camera crew in tow. so mr. barton will happily use the service for a photo opportunity when it suits him. but then he'll potentially vote to cut the service when it doesn't suit him? >> absolutely correctly. i think that one thing you can say about republicans, that they are very, very good at sticking together and staying in line with what their leadership has prescribed. they have decided that they want

to hang their hats on the wealthiest in our country. and it seems to be paying off. right here in wisconsin, we have an election where millions upon millions of dollars are being provided by these corporations and wealthy people in order for republicans to do their bidding. and in congress, we see the same thing. the supreme court has provided a provision, as you know, under citizens united, where they say corporations are people versus these elderly people are you need to protect. certainly some 80-year-old woman who is waiting on a meal from wheels on meals does not have as much power as one of these great oil company who can fund your campaign and i think they've taken a very cynical approach to governing. >> we should add that mr. bartonering with don't know which way he will vote and we applaud him for supporting meals and wheels and supporting that service. >> he will vote against it.

it is going to come as a huge package. and he won't have to vote on the individual provision to he said wheels on meals. and i can assure you, they will give him the point to justify this to his constituents. they'll tell him things like we're, that it is a duplication of service to provide a meal to an elderly person. they will say that these social safety net programs are socialism. they will give him points to try to get himself through his next election cycle. >> let's hope he ignores those talking points. thank you for joining us. next, sir charles slams missour mitt. ♪ [ female announcer ] with the all-new e-trade 360 investing dashboard

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close race between the president and mitt romney, some republicans, they remain a little short on hope. take, for example, action hero turned politician arnold schwarzenegger, former governor of california. schwarzenegger just penned an op ed in the time bemoaning the gop has ideologically rigid. quote, in the current climate, the extreme right wick of the party is targeting anyone who doesn't meet its strict criteria. in other words, the kindergarten cop is blowing the whistle on small term politics. if 2010 does become a total recall for the gop, we know one former republican who will be gloating. nba great and now television analyst charles barkley who once flirted with a republican run for governor of alabama before throwing his round mound behind obama. had a little trash talk time when the camera focused on mitt romney on the crowd at the boston celtics game. >> mitt romney. >> he's at the game in boston.

>> we're going to beat you like a drum in november. don't take it personally. i like. you seem like a nice guy. you going down, bro. >> there you have it. republicans and mitt romney crushed between the weight lifter and the weight watcher. though it is worth remembering what sir charles once so famously said. i am not a role model. stay with us. the day's top lines are coming up. >> these guys wouldn't even let us put back to work 400,000 teachers, firefighters and cops by a 0.5% tax on the first dollar after the first million you made. come on, man. >> the dude minds. this will not stand, you know? this aggression will not stand, man. c'mon dad!

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the president back in campaign mode. more mitt romney vsh p auditions and fox and friends gets the snl treatment. here are the top lines weekend recap. >> we are still fired up. we are still ready to go. >> 14,000 is 11,000 more than the largest crowd that mitt romney has ever drawn. >> i don't care how many ways you try to explain it. corporations aren't people. people are people. >> were they shy about asking for second? >> very direct. i will say too direct. >> he and his friends in congress think that the same bad ideas will lead to a different result. >> i'm not going to discuss the vice presidency. i'm more than happy to tell you why i'm qualified to serve in the united states senate, however. >> i have some would say better experience than barack obama had when he was a senator and ran. >> i don't know whether i would run and hillary doesn't know whether she will run. >> i'm going to say something.

>> it seems -- >> impossible. >> how do we know bin laden is really dead? >> there it is. >> if mitt romney gave 10% of his income to the red cross or doctors without borders, i would be the first to say good robot. he gives it to the mormon church which spent millions here in california in a political battle to make sure the only gay at a wedding is the priest who performs the ceremony. >> the simple proposition. who do you love? >> do you believe that same sex men and women should be able to get legally married? >> are you going to start there? >> yes, i do. >> i am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, are entitled to the same exact rights. >> second term with this administration come out behind same sex marriage? the institution of marriage? >> i can't speak to that. >> let's get right to our political panel. karen finney is an msnbc political panelist.

form he dnc communications director and jonathan capehart is an opinion writer for the "washington post." good afternoon to both of you. karen, the vice president isn't the only member of the obama administration who appears to be comfortable with same sex marriage. arnie duncan was asked about it this morning. take a listen. >> do you believe same second men and women should be able to get legally married in the united states? >> come on. you're going to start there? >> yes, i do. >> okay. >> have you ever said that publicly before? >> i don't know if i've ever been asked publicly. >> press secretary jay carney today said he can't comment on the president's views. are these cabinet members speaking independently or do you think the president is allowing them to do so with his tacit support? >> you know, i think what matters the most is that the core value is the same. that they all share the core value which says equal protection under the law. equal pursuit of life, liberty

and happiness. and i actually personally don't think that what biden said yesterday was so disconnected from kind of where he has been in the past. i don't think we should make a big deal of it if te evolving opinion between civil unions and marriage but the core value is the same. that's what really i think matters. and i think some of these games of, you know, trying to pit what one person said against the other, i don't think that does service to actually trying to get the president where i want him to be on the issue. which is agreeing with same sex marriage. >> right. do you agree with that position? >> look, as i wrote yesterday and again -- >> as an analysis of what has happened? >> look. what we have is a president who hasn't said the words in the way that arnie duncan said them flatly and unequivocally this morning. where he said, yes, i do, when asked do you support same sex

marriage. the president is on record saying that his views are evolving on the issue. but when you look at his actions. not the words but his actions. they telegraph and say that he is indeed in support of same sex marriage. he is no longer having the darrel of justice defend the so-called defense of marriage act against court challenge. he has spoken out against amendment efforts such as the one in north carolina that would deny equal protection to same sex couples. and most importantly, he has signed on his support for a bill proposed by senator diane feinstein of california that would repeal the so-called defense of marriage act. if that bill would make it to his desk, he would sign it into law. that's why i keep saying what the president seem to be doing is playing is a game of charades. if you look at hit actions, they look like and sound like --

exactly. >> here's the other thing. look at the way team romney handled the resignation of an openly gay staff person last week. it was deplorable. they were trying to have it both ways. i think in a political contech, in the context of the team, they have nothing to apologize. i think he has telegraphed the right things. i personally in my heart believe certainly as a mixed race person, he will get there. lord knows, i don't see how you can't get there from the perspective of civil rights. but again, i also think what's important, the contrast with mitt romney trying to have it both ways. with the comments seeming to say we don't, we're fine with people who are openly gay being on our staff as long as it is merit based. but then there are the questions about why he was fired. so i think in the comparison, in the context of 2012, this president has done a lot of good on this issue. >> john, same sex marriage will

be on the ballot as you said when voters go to the polls in the north carolina primaries tomorrow. the proposed amendment reads as follows. marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized. do you think it would actually be good for the president if this passes in a state that he won in 2008 and obviously would love to win again? >> if you look at the public that i be -- first of all. the idea this amendment wouldn't pass would have been magical if somehow public support would be against it. the latest polls shows that public support is 55%. the president won north carolina in 2008. it was the first democrat to win it in a very long time. it is indeed a swing state. the convention is being held in charlotte. so i can't tell whether this is going to be a good thing or a bad thing for the president. to tack on to something karen

was saying, here's the distinction between the president and mitt romney on this issue. mitt romney signed a pledge of the national organization for marriage that he would push for a u.s. constitutional amendment defining marriage between one man and one woman. that he would push for allowing the voters here in washington, d.c. to repeal the marriage equality law that was passed a couple years ago here. this is a very extreme pledge. on top of that, mitt romney has given money to supporters of proposition 8 in california which added a ban on same sex marriage to the constitution of the state of california. what we're talking about here is a president who is pushing for equal protection and equality under the law and a republican challenger who is doing everything in his power to ensure that that does not happen. >> of course, let's keep in mine romney could change his mind tomorrow. karen? >> that's true. >> and they're trying to use

this issue to drive a wedge between african-americans and lgbt americans as part of the core of the democratic base. don't forget that. >> you've been tweeting a lot about the north carolina vote tomorrow. what is it that concerns you most about this assertion of the ballot that's going before voters tomorrow? >> i take this very personally. my mother is from greensboro, north carolina. so i was tweeting that i want my family and friends in north carolina to please get out there and oppose this awful measure. the way i view it, when my parents got married in 1967 in new york, it was legal in the state of north carolina for them to be married. my grandfather didn't allow me in his home for some of the same reasons that people now say legal marriage is only between a man and a woman. we used to say legal marriage was only between a white man and a white woman. we now know that's ridiculous. i guess i see that times change and hearts change. so because of my family ties to the state of north carolina, i wish they would do the right

thing tomorrow. >> thank you so much for sharing that personal story. it means a lot to you and our viewers, i'm sure. karen finney and jonathan capehart, thank you. coming up, paris in the spring time and a french revolution. [ male announcer ] research suggests the health of our cells plays a key role throughout our entire lives. ♪ one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin, designed for many of men's health concerns as we age. ♪ it has more of seven antioxidants to support cell health. that's one a day men's 50+ healthy advantage. trouble with a car insurance claim. [ dennis ] switch to allstate. their claim service is so good, now it's guaranteed. [ foreman ] so i can trust 'em. unlike randy. dollar for dollar, nobody

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let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers. to a seismic shift in europe. it could be significant political consequences both here and abroad. in france was goodbye to nicolas sarkozy. and bringing socialists back to power for the first time in 20 years. in greece, voters delivered a rebuke of austerity measures there with 60% of the popular vote going to smaller opposition parties in parliamentary elections. so could the austerity back lash spell trouble for the paul ryan

backers of the use? one mr. romney, for example? msnbc contributor jarod bernstein. a former economic adviser to vice president joe biden. the french are fed up, the greeks have gone gonzo. if changes in the air over there, what do you think it will mean for the recovery here in the u.s.? >> well, we're having this argument here in the u.s. for quite a while now with the president months and months ago proposing, for example, the american jobs act. and the republicans in congress absolutely blocking it. and i don't think we talked about that in the same kind of austerity terms that you just took us through. it is exactly analogous. there was one party, the administration democrats suggesting the economy is in recovery but not nearly quickly enough. and we need to take out some kind of fallback insurance if

you will by implementing more stimulus. it was blocked by austerity minded conservatives who said, no, the ideal thing to do was to pivot to spending cuts and deficit reduction. >> we know and ben bernanke has suggested in comments that the economy may need some kind of additional stimulus. given the condition of congress, and the republican obsession with what has failed in europe, that's i guess unlikely in the short term. >> it is unlikely. it is not like the folk who have been blocking those measures here are going to see what happened in france and greece and the scales will fall from their eyes and say it is time to change our policies and embrace more of the kind of fiscal expansion that would help create more jobs and would come preliminary what bernanke is trying to do. >> we know that romney loves to paint the president as a european style socialist which is incredible. and he weighed in.

today take a listen to this. >> he is taking america on a path toward europe. and europe is not working there. it's not going to work here. europe is in real trouble as their debts mount. people demand more and more from government and government has to borrow more and more to satisfy their demands. >> how does romney do that? when he knows that it is him who support rank austerity measures. he supports paul ryan's budget. he wants to go cut, cut, cut. it's not president. it's him. he's the european socialist. >> martin, i feel your, i don't know what to call it. frustration, bemusement. >> it is staggering, the frustration one feels when you hear the man say outright lies repeatedly. >> so this is exactly why i actually left my perch in the white house. i thought perhaps i could come out higher and with help from lots of other people, like yourself. but other voices, a lot of people out here trying to say, let's clear the air here and

have a good discussion based on the facts. but when a candidate like that who has absolutely no plan for the short material. if you actually look at governor romney over on. >> he has a 59-point plan. i've read it. >> and he very explicitly says there is nothing we can do about the short term economic pain. then you have another party that in fact has a plan. yet it is being very deeply block by those who would impose the very kinds of austerity and spending cuts that are very clearly hurting europe themselves say a definition of a neurotic is the person who engages in the same behavior over and over again and think you'll get different results. you won't get different results. you will hear the economy here just like over there. >> it interesting because i was hearing this morning lots of republican talk on blogs in papers about the fact that the stock market was going to collapse because the french government elected a socialist president. i think at this point the stock

mark is actually up. there we are. sorry. the dow is down 10 at the moment. >> here is what -- mrs. political uncertainty. the stock market doesn't like that. what the stock margaret, the bond market wants to see. i've seen it time and again is growth. they want to see a plan for growth. if you go out there and say i am going to could not strain growth through fiscal policy, through contractionary government. more often than not you will see it go down. they know that the economy has to be the dog that wags the tail. the tail here is -- i'm sorry. the dog here is the growth. and we're missing growth. >> thank you so much. next, the president in full campaign mode. what's in store this week at the white house? stay with us.

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after launching his official re-election campaign at the weekend, the president will spend the next six months combining his responsibilities as commander in chief with the rigors of campaigning. later this week, the president travels to upstate new york, seattle, los angeles and reno, all in an attempt to persuade voters that he warrants a second term. nbc's kristen welker is at the white house. kristen, earlier today, mitt romney was asked a question about the president, and someone said something about the president being responsible for treason. take a listen to this. >> i want to know -- i want to know -- i want -- yeah, i do agree he should be tried for treason. >> now, kristen, we should note that later romney said he does not believe what the woman said. but it seems the obama campaign has actually issued a response. is that right? >> absolutely, the obama campaign is basically painting this as a leadership issue, and saying that this is a missed chance for mitt romney to

correct this woman, and essentially to say how he feels in that moment. in other words, not waiting until he's asked about it after the event, but in that moment saying that i don't believe that president obama should be tried for treason. so what you have are a number of people talking about this, angry about this on the twitterosphere. the obama administration really painting this as a leadership issue and the failure to really address those comments that the woman made at the time that they were made. >> kristen, this is a serious assertion. what's the penalty for treason in this country? i'm afraid i don't know. can you tell me? >> you know, i'm not 100% sure what the penalty is for treason. but certainly quite serious, and quite serious to be accusing the president of that. if you remember back in 2008, during a campaign event when a woman said that the president was a muslim, john mccain grabbed the microphone,

corrected her, and kind of took it from there. and in that instance, that was really one moment that was held up as a really strong leadership moment in which john mccain corrected that woman. so, the obama campaign really painting a contrast here and saying this was really a failure, a failed opportunity to correct something that just simply is overstating, and crossing the line. >> and briefly, kristen, the president's week is full of travel and full of campaign events. >> yeah, it absolutely is. culminating in a huge campaign event in los angeles, being hosted by george clooney. expected to raise at least $12 million. of course that would top really all campaign events. president obama has certainly been aligning himself with hollywood as he's been trying to raise a lot of money. and certainly offset some of the republican-leaning super pacs, which, as you know, have been raising really millions of dollars ahead of this campaign. but, so president obama heading

to los angeles. but also, martin, also targeting some key battleground states, as well. >> nbc's kristen welker. thanks, as always. we'll be right back to clear the air. ♪[music plays] ♪[music plays] ♪[music plays] purina one beyond. food for your cat or dog. sven's home security gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! how does this thing work? oh, i like it!

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♪ [ male announcer ] virtual wallet can help you be that person who's good with money. see what's free to spend. move money with a slide. save with a shake. feel good about your decisions. it's time now to "clear the air." and i know that from the perspective of this country, france is not always the most warmly regarded nation on earth. i mean, who could forget what mark twain wrote about the french in his netbooks. france has neither winter nor summer nor morals. apart from these drawbacks, it's a fine country. but perhaps surprisingly, mitt romney has always had a very positive view of france as he explained during a press conference in pennsylvania last month. >> i have a lot of memories of france. i think the best memories were with my wife on vacations from

time to time in france. i look forward to occasional vacations again in such a beautiful place. >> but i wonder if mitt romney is about to perform one of his legendary flip-flops on the french? because, until yesterday, president sarkozy was attempting to lead france out of recession by imposing harsh austerity measures. an approach that mitt romney shares with his financial guru, the marvelous paul ryan. but unfortunately, it hasn't worked. when the ratings agency standard & poor's decided to downgrade france earlier this year they said this about their approach. austerity alone risks becoming self-defeating, as domestic demand falls in line with consumers' rising concern about job security and disposable incomes, eroding national tax revenues. yesterday the people decided that they had enough. for the first time in 30 years, the french incumbent president was kicked out of office. as the socialist fran swou hollande defeated president sork

zi at the polls. at his victory rally last night francois hollande called his election a fresh start and said he was committed to making france a less divided and fairer society. and then he offered this austerity, he said, need not be europe's fate. so which one might be tempted to ask, why make it america's fate? thanks so much for watching. dylan ratigan is here to take us forward. how are you? >> very well. exciting political times, wouldn't you say? this provokes a fairly interesting debate all of a sudden. >> i believe it has. the show starts now. >> no, no, that's not -- you still have 30 seconds of your show. you're not even allowed to do that technically. >> oh, i'm so sorry. >> just because you're impatient. i am here. i've invaded your show. i'm in it now. and you can't just start my show early. we don't run msnbc. >> no, we don't. >> how was your weekend? >> my colleagues in the control